- Tyrese said a bad reaction to medication led to him claiming that Will Smith gave him $5 million.
- "I was out of my mind," the "Fast & Furious" actor said.
Tyrese has said a bad reaction to depression medication led to him falsely claiming that Will Smith had given him $5 million.
In 2017, the R&B star announced that Smith had given him a huge sum of money to cover legal fees in his custody battle with ex-wife Norma Mitchell.
"My wife kept the news away from me 'cause I've been on with lawyers all day, but our family and our sister Jada Pinkett-Smith and my brother Will Smith just sent us 5 million dollars to help keep us afloat," Tyrese wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post.
"The Smiths and their whole family has always shown up for The Gibson's. Uncle Will you're an uncle for real."
Sources close to Smith immediately denied Tyrese's claim to TMZ, adding that Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, long time friends of Tyrese, were worried he was having "some sort of a breakdown."
Appearing as a guest on "Sway's Universe" on Wednesday, Tyrese said the Smiths were right to be concerned.
"Will Smith is gonna give me $5 million? I never even talked to Will Smith. I was out of my mind," he said.
Tyrese said he made the claim while he was taking Rexulti, a medication used to treat major depressive disorder in adults. The 44-year-old star said he was prescribed the medication after losing custody of his and Mitchell's daughter, Shayla.
According to the maker of Rexulti, psychological side effects of the drug can include sudden changes in a person's mood, behavior, thoughts or feelings as well as strong urges, such as to gamble, have sex, or shop.
Mitchell was granted custody of their child after she accused Tyrese of physically abusing Shayla. Tyrese denied Mitchell's allegations, and the case was dropped just weeks later following an investigation by child service officials.
"I travel and I move all the time. I'm used to being away from my baby," Tyrese told Sway. "But to take my baby away for 100 days? Oh, I was fucking miserable. So then the psychiatrist says, 'Here's some psych meds that'll help stabilize your mood, because you barely sleep, you're stressed the fuck out, and your firstborn was taken away from you.'"
He added: "You put some shit like Rexulti in my system, it's going to have the worst adverse effects ever.
"So I'm online talking about Will Smith giving me $5 million. I never talked to Will Smith and I still haven't recovered from the damage that I did to him and his family. They didn't deserve them phone calls."
Representatives for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.